(Topic ID: 296211)

Rebuilding Jones plugs-soldering technique

By phillyfan64

2 years ago


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#1 2 years ago

So I want to redo this wiring hack job on my World Fair. Someone had cut the harness going to the head, spliced in a different Jones plug with different color wires and used butt connectors. It works but I hate it. I bought a scrap harness on eBay and have all the correct colors to match. The plan is to match up the correct colors and solder and shrink wrap new splices. However I’m not having much luck getting the wires to hold inside the Jones plugs. I’m trying to some fresh solder inside the plugs, tin the ends of the wires and then heat the plug. It’s not working great. Some are holding, some are not. Anyone have any experience redoing these? Any tricks to doing this correctly? Thanks

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#2 2 years ago

Make sure you have enough heat. The solder inside the jones plug should all be melted first, then you can insert the tinned wire end and hold it in place while it comes up to temperature. Once everything is at temperature and the solder has flowed through the wire remove the heat and hold everything steady until after the solder hardens. Partially heating up the solder in the jones plug or moving the wire before the solder has resolidified will give you a lower quality joint.

/Mark

#3 2 years ago
Quoted from MarkG:

Make sure you have enough heat. The solder inside the jones plug should all be melted first, then you can insert the tinned wire end and hold it in place while it comes up to temperature. Once everything is at temperature and the solder has flowed through the wire remove the heat and hold everything steady until after the solder hardens. Partially heating up the solder in the jones plug or moving the wire before the solder has resolidified will give you a lower quality joint.
/Mark

Thanks Mark for the tips. I definitely didn’t have enough heat. I’ve got it all the way up to 890 now and I’m using the widest tip I have. I’ve been practicing and I’m getting better at it.

#4 2 years ago

Your soldering iron needs to deliver heat to the joint faster than the surfaces can remove it. All of the metal touching the joint acts like a heat sink to pull heat away and cool the joint. Things like jones plugs and light sockets that have lots of metal require a lot more power from your soldering iron to get everything to temperature.

Turning up the temperature might help but you're not really after a higher temperature. You're after more area being at a sufficient temperature (about 400-500 degrees F). So while part of the joint might get to 800+ degrees, it's not until everything gets to 400-500 degrees that you can make the joint.

An old school 100-140 watt soldering gun makes soldering these bigger joints pretty easy.

#5 2 years ago
Quoted from MarkG:

Your soldering iron needs to deliver heat to the joint faster than the surfaces can remove it. All of the metal touching the joint acts like a heat sink to pull heat away and cool the joint. Things like jones plugs and light sockets that have lots of metal require a lot more power from your soldering iron to get everything to temperature.
Turning up the temperature might help but you're not really after a higher temperature. You're after more area being at a sufficient temperature (about 400-500 degrees F). So while part of the joint might get to 800+ degrees, it's not until everything gets to 400-500 degrees that you can make the joint.
An old school 100-140 watt soldering gun makes soldering these bigger joints pretty easy.

I do have one of those big soldering guns. I’ll give that a try.

#6 2 years ago

Do people sometimes eliminate the jones plugs and go with molex instead? Just curious

#7 2 years ago
Quoted from pinballplusMN:

Do people sometimes eliminate the jones plugs and go with molex instead? Just curious

I’ve never seen that done. Jones plugs are pretty reliable as long as you clean the contacts. Whoever had this game before me apparently didn’t know the Jones plugs simply unplug and they ruined a perfectly good wiring harness.

#8 2 years ago

Hard part is done. Not as good as factory. Got a little solder on some of the prongs but it should be fine. 140 watt soldering gun definitely made the job easier. Thanks Mark.

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#9 2 years ago

I’ll be doing this same nonsense on a Chicago Coin pitch and bat. Really surprising that in the age of the smartphone, people don’t stop and think / search before doing something so drastic (and stupid) as cutting the harness.

#10 2 years ago
Quoted from dr_nybble:

I’ll be doing this same nonsense on a Chicago Coin pitch and bat. Really surprising that in the age of the smartphone, people don’t stop and think / search before doing something so drastic (and stupid) as cutting the harness.

Tell me about it. I’m determined to finally fix it right. I wish I could have found a scrap World Fair wiring harness but no such luck.

1 week later
#11 2 years ago

Finally finished this. Everything works perfectly. I definitely don’t want to do this again haha.

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#12 2 years ago

Nice! I'm probably going to try clear heat shrink.

What diameter heat shrink did you use?

I've got a roll of cable lacing cord which I use instead of zip ties for EMs: https://www.thebroadcastbridge.com/content/entry/12400/the-lost-art-of-lacing-cable

#13 2 years ago
Quoted from dr_nybble:

Nice! I'm probably going to try clear heat shrink.
What diameter heat shrink did you use?
I've got a roll of cable lacing cord which I use instead of zip ties for EMs: https://www.thebroadcastbridge.com/content/entry/12400/the-lost-art-of-lacing-cable

Thanks. I have a box of all different metric size shrink wrap. I actually double shrink wrapped it. It’s overkill but I usually do two layers. I started with the 2mm on the 1st layer and 3mm on the 2nd layer. 2mm is pretty tight to slip over the cloth if it’s pulled back and bunched up. 3mm was easier to work with and I eventually just used that for both layers. I tried different methods of splicing but the easiest for me was to make a small X and cross the wires, then twist them tightly and solder. They’re not going anywhere. This cloth wire doesn’t have to be stripped like regular wire. With this just pull back on the cloth exterior to expose the conductor. Gottlieb’s cloth wiring color scheme can be really difficult to distinguish. I think I matched all 20 colors. If not they’re close enough.

I tried to do the cable lacing but I’m just not good at it. I gave up and took the easy way out.

Good luck!

5 months later
#14 2 years ago
Quoted from phillyfan64:

Finally finished this. Everything works perfectly. I definitely don’t want to do this again haha.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

Nice job on the Jones plugs. I’m working on a 1940 Chicago Coin Roxy and have a Jones plug problem. I had intermittent bulb problems and found the connections on the Jones plugs were loose. They soldered wires to a washer that was pressed on to the male pins. Now some are loose. Not sure how to deal with it. Unsolder and connect directly to pins like you did, or solder washer to pin. What do you think?

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#15 2 years ago

You could flow solder to the washer and male end of the plug, eliminate any gaps. I would do all of them.

#16 2 years ago
Quoted from ibis:

You could flow solder to the washer and male end of the plug, eliminate any gaps. I would do all of them.

Basically like fixing light socket intermittent issues.

#17 2 years ago
Quoted from DJ1953:

Nice job on the Jones plugs. I’m working on a 1940 Chicago Coin Roxy and have a Jones plug problem. I had intermittent bulb problems and found the connections on the Jones plugs were loose. They soldered wires to a washer that was pressed on to the male pins. Now some are loose. Not sure how to deal with it. Unsolder and connect directly to pins like you did, or solder washer to pin. What do you think?[quoted image][quoted image]

Whichever one works. If you can get enough heat for the solder to meld the wire to the pin that will be the most durable. But it will take more time to accomplish since you may have to adjust the harness wires a bit to reach a little longer into the pins.

Getting a better connection between the washer and the pin will be more accessible but may not be as durable. If you follow this approach you will know when you turn it back on.

#18 2 years ago
Quoted from ibis:

You could flow solder to the washer and male end of the plug, eliminate any gaps. I would do all of them.

I will try soldering the pin to the washer and hope I can get them hot enough. I’ll let you know how it works. Thanks for all your input.

#19 2 years ago

Worked like a charm!! I spent more time fretting about it than the time it actually took to do it. Now I might as well do the same to all the other plugs.

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#20 2 years ago

Awesome! Glad it worked out for you!

#21 2 years ago

I resoldered all of the cut wires on the EM I'm working on (maybe around 80?), and relaced the bundles with lacing twine (no zip ties!).

I thought clear shrink tubing would look unobtrusive and it does, but it also means you can't tell if anything ever pokes through it and might cause a short. So I'd recommend using a coloured/opaque tubing instead.

#22 2 years ago
Quoted from dr_nybble:

I resoldered all of the cut wires on the EM I'm working on (maybe around 80?), and relaced the bundles with lacing twine (no zip ties!).
I thought clear shrink tubing would look unobtrusive and it does, but it also means you can't tell if anything ever pokes through it and might cause a short. So I'd recommend using a coloured/opaque tubing instead.

What does the clear tubing look like? I was going to try that on some old old splices. They used friction tape. I think that is what it was called.

#23 2 years ago
Quoted from dr_nybble:

I resoldered all of the cut wires on the EM I'm working on (maybe around 80?), and relaced the bundles with lacing twine (no zip ties!).
I thought clear shrink tubing would look unobtrusive and it does, but it also means you can't tell if anything ever pokes through it and might cause a short. So I'd recommend using a coloured/opaque tubing instead.

80 cut wires??? Wow. This was one job I really hated doing but it had to be done.

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